At the present time, roof vents are mounted along the roof ridge to provide a vent from the attic area of a house or other structure, to reduce the build-up of heat in the summer. While venting roofs is a necessary part of house construction, use of auxiliary vents are not cost effective. Specifically, the use of separate exhaust fans and vents adds significant cost to the dwelling and have considerably shorter effective life-spans.
In order to preserve the appearance of the house, the height of the vent is kept at a minimum. For that reason, conventional roof vents are open on both sides of the roof ridge, so that they cooperate with a slit or opening in the roof decking to allow air to vent in both directions. Because of this conventional design, the house roof is exposed to high wind, rain and storms in both directions perpendicular to the length of the roof along the roof ridge. This causes damage to the roof deck, sheathing and tarpaper.
It is estimated that, in the United States, westerly driven winds are associated with 90% of the damaging high winds from storms. Manufacturers of conventional two sided roof vents are forced to protect themselves against damage claims by substantial insurance claims. If a conventional vent were to be used on only one side of the roof ridge line, the opening would have to be so large to be effective that even more damage to the roof deck and perhaps other parts of the attic and roof system. A larger opening would not be facing these westerly winds, of course, but the size itself would still provide undesirable access to the interior of the roof.
It would be of great advantage in the art if a roof vent system could be provided that would eliminate significant exposure to prevailing storm winds and the like, while permitting venting of the attic in a simple, easy to install and attractive manner.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide an improved roof ridge vent.
Another object is to provide a roof ridge vent device that is easy to install in conventional roof construction, utilizing conventional roof decking construction.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a roof ridge vent while eliminating at least half of any lift up to which the roof would conventionally be exposed.
Other objects will appear hereinafter.